Dietary n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Late Pregnancy and Postpartum Depressive Symptom among Japanese Women

Minatsu Kobayashi; Kohei Ogawa; Naho Morisaki; Yukako Tani; Reiko Horikawa; Takeo Fujiwara

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00241

Dietary n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Late Pregnancy and Postpartum Depressive Symptom among Japanese Women

Front Psychiatry. 2017 Nov 23:8:241. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00241. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Minatsu Kobayashi¹, Kohei Ogawa², Naho Morisaki³, Yukako Tani^{4

5}, Reiko Horikawa⁶, Takeo Fujiwara^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science, Faculty of Home Economics, Otsuma Women's University, Tokyo, Japan.
² Center for Maternal-Fetal, Neonatal and Reproductive Medicine, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Social Medicine, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: The use of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3PUFA) in preventive or therapeutic modalities for postpartum depression, especially long-chain types such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and a docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is of considerable interest. High n-3PUFA consumption has been reported among pregnant Japanese women. Therefore, analysis of this group could provide important insights into the relationship between postpartum depression and dietary n-3PUFA consumption. To further examine the relationship between the risk of postpartum depression and n-3PUFA consumption, we conducted a prospective hospital-based birth cohort study in Japan.

Design and methods: Our prospective birth cohort study was performed at the National Center for Child Health and Development (NCCHD) in suburban Tokyo, Japan. Dietary n-3PUFA intake during late pregnancy was assessed by a semi-quantitative food questionnaire and participants were categorized by quintile distributions of n-3PUFA intake. A Japanese translation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used to screen women for postpartum depression at 1 month after delivery (967 women) and at 6 months after delivery (710 women). We performed logistic regression analysis to examine the relationship between the risk of postpartum depression and n-3PUFA consumption after adjusting for confounding factors.

Results: Significant associations between EPA, DHA, and n-3PUFA intakes in late pregnancy and postpartum depression at both 1 and 6 months after delivery were not observed.

Conclusion: This prospective study indicated that EPA, DHA, and n-3PUFA intake during late pregnancy was not associated with the risk of postpartum depression.

Keywords: Japanese pregnant women; dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids; docosahexaenoic acid; eicosapentaenoic acid; fish intake; postpartum depression.